Crossroads (17 page)

‘Do you think she’s at peace now?’ Theo asked.

‘I hope so,’ Olivia smiled, ‘what about you? Are you at peace now?’

Theo looked down at the woman in his arms and his embrace tightened.

‘I am now,’ he kissed her gently murmuring against her lips, ‘because without you there’s no me either.’

Theo stared out across the lake as the sun dipped low on the horizon, his arms tightening around Olivia, almost as if he were afraid she’d disappear if he let go. They stood on a beach, backed by a small precipice overlooking the lake. From where they stood they could see Olivia’s house on the opposite bank, nestled amidst the tree line. They could almost see the ruins of the cliff which led up to the Boatman, the old abandoned Art Deco Hotel where they had rescued the Ferryman.

‘So where are we exactly?

‘On the North-West side of the lake, I used to come up here on my bike when I wanted to be alone…well mostly when I wanted to sulk.’

He looked behind them to the blankets spread out on the sand and the small bonfire they’d laid out.

‘So this is the Otherworld?’

‘Yeah, bit of a letdown isn’t it,’ she chuckled.

‘I don’t know what I expected,’ he pressed a kiss against her hair.

She turned in his arms so she was facing him, tracing his jaw lightly with her fingertips as a sigh escaped her lips.

‘What is it?’ he frowned.

‘A lot has happened since…’she shook her head, ‘since that night, we really should talk.’

‘I don’t really remember much,’ he stroked her back gently, as if he couldn’t help but maintain the contact between them. ‘I remember everything up to the moment we were on the ice and that’s where it gets a bit distorted.’

‘Well Charon opened the gateway and it created a kind of vortex. All the spirits and creatures caught in Mercy were sucked back through but you got caught at the tail edge of it and were pulled through with Mary.’

‘What happened to you? Did you come through after me?’

Olivia shook her head. ‘The ice started to break up and I couldn’t hold my grip, I fell through.’ She shuddered at the memory of the black icy cold water engulfing her and dragging her down into the crushing darkness below.

‘God Livy,’ Theo’s grip on her involuntarily tightened, ‘you could have drowned.’

‘I very nearly did, I cracked my head on the ice as I went in. I was practically unconscious before I even hit the water.’

Theo’s heart pounded heavily in his chest at the thought of her nearly dying, alone in the icy water, because he wasn’t there to protect her.

‘Don’t do that,’ she smoothed the wrinkles between his brow, ‘you couldn’t have done anything even if you had been there.’

‘How did you survive?’

‘Charlotte,’ she whispered, ‘she saved me, she dragged me to the shore. So there I was half dazed, probably suffering from hypothermia, you were gone and I didn’t know if you were dead, or…’ her voice cracked slightly and she cleared her throat and tried again. ‘I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again. I was in pretty bad shape, I have to admit I gave some serious thought to just lying down and dying.’

‘Jesus Liv,’ he swore angrily.

‘I didn’t though,’ she stroked his face soothingly. ‘I was lying there on the sand when Hades appeared.’

‘Hades?’ Theo repeated in confusion, ‘What THE Hades?’

‘Why does everyone keep saying that,’ she murmured, ‘but yes THE Hades, as in the God of the Underworld and Charon’s boss.’

‘What did he want?’

‘Front row seats to the Olivia and Theo show apparently.’

‘Huh?’

‘Hades knew that I was able to conjure Hell fire and he was curious about me. He offered to send me to the Otherworld to find you.’

‘In exchange for?’

‘Help in stopping my mother and Nathaniel from getting their hands on Infernum, but at the time I think he mostly just wanted to see what I would do. It was kind of like an experiment, he said that there was a way out, a way back to our world but I had to figure it out. I think he wanted to see how I would handle it.’

‘So it was like a test?’

‘Exactly.’

‘And how did you do?’

‘I threw a bit of a tantrum.’

Theo’s brow rose questioningly.

‘Okay I haven’t got to that bit yet,’ she replied, ‘so anyway Hades sends me over to the Otherworld and at first I’m a bit pissed because I figure, you know, that I’m still in Mercy and that he’s having a good laugh at my expense. Then I finally get wise and figure he really did send me to the Otherworld but before he did, he gave me this.’

She pulled the small golden compass from the neck of her shirt. Theo took it gently as it was still slung around her neck on a delicate chain and flicked open the face of it.

‘It’s a compass?’ he tilted his head as he studied the exquisite craftsmanship, ‘it doesn’t work?’

‘Well apparently it does, I just haven’t figured out how to use it yet,’ she took it back and closed it before tucking it back into her clothes.

He stood and listened patiently as she filled him in on her meeting with Bridget and her aunt, and on finding Sam.

‘Sam’s here?’ Theo repeated.

‘Well yes and no,’ she replied, ‘he is here but he’s not exactly the Sam we know. This is a younger version of himself, not only does he not know us but he hasn’t figured out how to use all his powers yet.’

‘I see,’ he mused thoughtfully.

‘There’s something else’ she began, ‘just before I found you Hades came to me.’

‘Why? I thought you said he was just watching you?’

‘Well it certainly started out that way but things have changed.’

‘Why what happened?’

‘When Nathaniel and my mother escaped from The Boatman apparently Nathaniel smuggled my mother into the Underworld so that they could find one of the Lost Crossroads. There are five of them scattered through the Underworld and if any human finds one they can ask a boon of the Crossroad keeper.’

‘A boon? You mean like a wish?’

She nodded.

‘They’re supposed to be very powerful. Nathaniel couldn’t make a deal with one of them himself because he’s not human.’

‘I take it that’s what he is using your mother for?’

She nodded again. ‘He seems to think that the keeper can either tell them the location of the book or send them to it. I’m not entirely sure what he is planning. But I was supposed to go after them once I found you.’

‘Supposed to?’

‘That was part of my deal with Hades,’ she blew out a breath. ‘He would send me to the Otherworld to find you and once I had, I had to get to the Crossroad before them and prevent them from making a deal with the keeper.’

‘So what’s changed?’

‘Nothing,’ she shook her head. ‘I still have to stop them from using the Crossroad to find the book. The problem is, for whatever reason, Nathaniel is destroying all the other Crossroads so that no one can use them.’

‘Why would he do that?’

‘I’m not sure, but what I do know is that by destroying something as old and powerful as the Crossroads it has sent ripples out across all the worlds. It has upset the balance and it is being felt even in this world. I felt it when he destroyed the first Crossroad and the shock wave felt like an extremely powerful earthquake. Hades seems to think that the more Crossroads he destroys the more it will tear away at the fabric between worlds, until every wall begins to break down.’

‘And when that happens?’

‘The Underworld will fall. Hell will spill out onto Earth and once those creatures get loose, what we saw in Mercy will pale in comparison to what will be unleashed.’

‘God,’ Theo raked his hand through his hair.

‘I know, it’s a hell of a head fuck,’ she sighed, ‘but…I gave my word. I can’t go home, I have to stop Nathaniel and my mother.’

‘How are you supposed to do that?’ he frowned. ‘If there are still another four Crossroads how are you supposed to figure out where they are, let alone which one Nathaniel will go for next?’

‘Hades says there is a gateway hidden here, which will take me directly into the Underworld. Once I’m there I just need to figure out how to use the compass. It’s the key to finding them I know it is. I’m tied to my mother by blood, the oldest and most powerful magic there is. If I find her, I find Nathaniel.’

‘Olivia,’ he shook his head.

‘I know it’s a lot to take in, I’m not asking you to go with me. I can find a way to get you back to the real world. If there’s a hidden gateway to the Underworld there must be a way back home.’

‘You really think I’d leave you now,’ his grip on her tightened angrily, ‘after everything we’ve been through? Where you go I go, that is not negotiable.’

‘I don’t want you to get hurt,’ she whispered closing her eyes against the pain. ‘I thought I’d lost you once before and I can’t go through that again. It felt like my insides had been ripped out and there was just this big dark pit inside me, which just got bigger and deeper.’

‘Livy,’ he whispered.

‘I want you safe.’

‘And you think I don’t want the same thing for you? You think it wouldn’t kill me to lose you?’ He brushed his thumb across her lower lip, his voice low and intense, ‘you crossed worlds to find me Livy, do you really think I wouldn’t do the same for you. Neither of us wants the other one to get hurt. Well I can’t give you any guarantees but I can make you a promise, that no matter what happens we will always find each other. No matter what’, he repeated. ‘It’s you and me Olivia and nothing will ever change that, not even death will keep us from each other.’

She closed her eyes and pressed her forehead to his.

‘Do you promise?’

‘I swear,’ his lips brushed hers.

Her arms snaked slowly around his neck and pulled him in closer as she sank into his kiss.

‘Tell me again Livy,’ he breathed against her mouth, ‘tell me the words.’

She didn’t need to ask what he meant, it was the one thing he’d wanted to hear her say to him for months and when she’d finally told him, he had been too lost within the prison of his own mind to hear her.

‘I love you Theo,’ she breathed, ‘I will love you until time no longer exists.’

He took her mouth again, walking her back slowly until he could lower her to the blanket. He stripped away her shirt so he could find her soft bare skin which warmed under his touch. Her fingers tangled in his hair as she gazed up into his deep dark eyes.

‘Say it again.’

She smiled against his mouth. ‘I love you,’ she whispered.

‘God Livy,’ he shuddered in her arms, ‘you have no idea what you do to me.’

She dragged her fingers up his torso taking his shirt with them as she went, allowing him to pull away long enough to draw it over his head and discard it.

‘Theo,’ she breathed heavily, the words choking in her throat.

She wound her arms tightly around him, pulling him in impossibly close so they were pressed warm skin to warm skin. He took her mouth once again, sinking down into that place where time slowed and nothing else existed but the two of them. Everything felt different, so much sharper and more intense. His lips left hers and trailed down her throat to her collar bone causing her to shiver and the fine hairs on her arms to raise. When he reached her breast and drew the tip into his hot mouth she arched helplessly, unable to do anything but feel. It was dizzying to know that he held this much power over her, that he was able to give so much pleasure. He switched to the other breast and her hands trailed down his chest to his stomach, scraping the skin lightly, causing him to bite down on her softly. She undid his jeans and pushed both them and his boxers over his lean hips before reaching down to wrap her hand around him. He released her breast on a gasp of pleasure, pressing his flushed forehead to her skin and unable to do anything but rock slowly into her firm grip. Reluctantly he pulled away from her, far enough to strip the rest of the clothes from them and when they were both finally naked he crawled back up the length of her trembling body, nestling himself between her thighs.

‘Say it again.’

‘I love you,’ she gasped out as he plunged inside her deeply.

He stilled inside her, holding himself at the deepest point, breathing heavily and trembling at the intensity of her body squeezing him so tightly. His lips brushed against her lightly once and then twice, he rolled his hips slowly, causing her to gasp once again at the wave of pleasure. His tongue swept in and he tasted her, savoring the moment as if it would last forever. She wrapped her legs tightly around his hips, pulling him in closer as her arms tangled around his neck keeping him anchored to her. He slid his arms underneath her and pulled her in just as closely until they were one tangle of long limbs and flushed skin, unable to tell where one ended and the other began.

There was an uncertainty between them, an undercurrent of desperation that hadn’t been present before, the unspoken fear between them of what was yet to come and whether or not they would both survive it, but surrounding it all was the overwhelming love between them which they had finally embraced. It was empowering, the feeling they could do anything as long as it was the two of them together. Theo plunged into her body, swallowing the sighs and moans as she climbed impossibly high. Her fingers dug into his skin as her core tightened viciously and the pleasure ripped through her like a tornado, leaving utter devastation in its wake.

‘I love you,’ he breathed against her ear, ‘always…’ He felt her clamp down and could do nothing but follow her down into oblivion, spilling himself deep inside her.

At some point the sky had changed from a violent swirl of purple and pink to a clear star lit canvas. Olivia settled comfortably, sitting between Theo’s legs with her back to his chest, as he wrapped a blanket around them both and folded her sweetly into his arms. The fire they had laid out earlier now danced and snapped merrily, bathing them both with warmth and flickering light.

‘What are you thinking about?’ Theo’s voice rumbled quietly against her ear as she absently traced the tattoo along his forearm.

She sighed loudly. ‘I was just wishing we could stay here forever, in this moment just you and me.’